Removing and Replacing a Window: A Step-by-Step Guide

When it comes to removing and replacing a window, it can seem like a daunting task, but with the right tools and knowledge, it can be done efficiently. In this article, we'll walk you through the process of removing and replacing a window, from preparing the area to finishing up with the trim.

Preparation is Key

Before starting the project, make sure you've measured your windows accurately using our measuring guide on YouTube. This will ensure that you order new windows that fit perfectly in your home. Once you have your new windows, it's time to prepare the area around the window.

To start, insert the straw as far back in there as you can, hopefully getting within an inch of the outside surface. Fill it about 30% going all the way around and then after about 20 minutes, go back and fill up again to about 75%. This creates a vapor barrier that will help prevent moisture from entering your home.

The Secret to a Successful Replacement

So why does this work? The primary layer of foam acts as a vapor barrier, preventing moisture from entering your home. The second layer is for r-value, helping to finish filling the gap and providing additional insulation. By using two layers of foam, you can ensure that your new window seals properly and keeps your home comfortable.

Tips and Tricks

When working with foam, it's essential to keep a few things in mind. Always use the can upside down as much as possible, especially when running long distances. This will help maintain pressure and prevent wasting most of the foam. If you do need to squeeze the can, try to keep the straw in place to avoid spilling foam everywhere.

It's also crucial to be aware of the temperature and humidity levels in your home. When working with foam, it has a tendency to expand even when it's not in use. This means that if you're not careful, you might end up dripping foam onto your carpet or hands.

Working Around Shims

Once you've filled the gap with foam, make sure to work around any shims or other obstructions. These can be tricky to get around, but they're essential for a proper seal. Use rubber gloves to prevent getting foam on your skin, as it's not easy to clean off once it sets.

A Final Check

Before putting up the trim, take a step back and inspect the area where you've filled the gap with foam. Make sure that it's completely sealed and free of any gaps or imperfections. If everything looks good, you can proceed with installing your new window.

Additional Resources

If you have any questions about removing and replacing a window or need further clarification on any part of the process, check out our YouTube channel for more videos on measuring windows and ordering new ones. We also have a comprehensive form on our website where you can submit any questions or topics you'd like to discuss.

Conclusion

Removing and replacing a window may seem like a daunting task, but with the right tools and knowledge, it can be done efficiently. By following these steps and tips, you'll be able to complete your project successfully and enjoy the benefits of having new windows in your home.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhi Shannon here from host improvements.com uh today we're going to shoot a video here and we're going to show you how to remove and replace an existing window in your home with a vinyl window um basically to start out we've already got the windows pre-ordered uh so I've measured the exterior size of the brick mold on the new window transferred those marks to the house here you can see we've got a uh basically a pressed wood siding so it's going to be relatively easy to cut with a circular saw so I've transferred the measurements of the window to the outside here marked it on the siding and that is going to form our cut line we'll cut around the whole perimeter and with any luck at all the window will come out without too much hassle what we're going to find underneath this siding is an aluminum uh nailing flange so once we've pulled the siding off when it's cut we'll be able to expose the aluminum uh nailing plange pull the nails remove the window and go from there okay so I've set the depth of my uh circular saw so that we aren't hopefully cutting right through the plywood it's a little difficult because this is a lap siding so we need to have it set a little deeper some areas that it is going to cut the plywood so I've set the depth uh safety glasses and I'm just going to go around the window and cut it just double checking the uh it cut right through just going to go a little deeper just got a bit of a nail that I can see here hoping I can pull it out of there um actually the way this siding works out may be able to remove this strip and then just cut the one that's below it probably a good idea to have ear protection on too I was thinking as I was cutting it's a little loud but you definitely want eye protection because you could definitely be cutting a few nails and possibly even that aluminum nailing flange that's around the window in this case I think we were cutting just outside of it here's that there's that aluminum fin I was talking about so you can see uh this one's nailed in with looks like shingle nails so once we get it all exposed we should be able to pull them out uh so now I'm I'm going to make another cut but I'm going to run it along here I've got to just Mark a line and and cut that you can see see when cutting this siding it it's a lot of fine sawdust comes from it too so we've also in this area covered up an air conditioner that's right below us just to keep some of that dust and dirt out of it so I'm just going to go around now and pry off all these spots where we've cut and get that nailing FL exposed and yet again another real good use for red flat bar I think we've used this in almost every video for some job or another there will be a bead of cocking or there should be uh between whatever your your finished product in this case is siding and the existing window if it ends up in the way just peel it off too it'll likely come with the siding though you could really do this same method if you had stuckle you just need to use the appropriate blade in your saw uh but you could definitely do the same thing with stuckle so you can see in a few spots where the siding is doubled up I didn't quite get cut through everything uh with this type of siding you can pretty much cut that with a knife and those little pieces will come off if you had to you could just make your saw a little deeper again and and make another pass but basically we can get that out of there with the knife in this case so I'll just continue around the window doing the same thing getting it all cleaned up and uh expose these nails so we can pull the nails out okay so I've got all the strip of siding removed around the outside edge I've also pre- removed a bunch of the nails but I will show you across the top getting the nails out uh something I didn't mention at the beginning of the video is the casing or the trim work inside the house is already removed off the window uh make sure you do that so that you can pull it out properly um so basically you may have this drip cap on the top you may not just depending on your case basically uh we're going to be replacing this so I'm just pulling it out of there we pretty much had cut through most of it except this one spot so that that now exposes the top row Nails across there so I will uh go around and pull those out and then the windows ready to come out there's no right or wrong way of doing this it's just a matter of finding the way that works the best in the situation you've got I'm kind of prying this flange out enough to loosen the nails off so that then they're protruded enough that I can get behind them to pull them up so I'm just going to work my way along there and keep doing that till they're all loose at least trying not to damage the siding we're obviously leaving that in place okay so I've got those all loosened off now I can just go back and remove all of them okay so I believe we have all the nails out around the perimeter and the window should be coming free I'm just going to try to coax it out of the hole a little bit to the point where I can get a hold of it depending on the size of the window obviously you may need help to lift it in or out so I'm just kind of going around the uh existing insulation that's in there causes it to bind a little bit so it that's usually mostly what's kind of holding it in at this point it's starting to come now once you kind of wiggle it out I try to leave the bottom sitting on there if I'm working by myself pry the top away get rid of this iny itchy insulation I'm just going to flop it down onto the work surface and that's one window out so uh we'll get this down off the scaffold ah man watch out for acoustical sealant uh we'll get this down off out of our way and uh inspect the opening for any rot or anything and prepare it for the new window all right so uh We've brought the window up up top here it's obviously standing on its end right now but it's just to get it out of the way uh we did a couple dry fits on the opening to be sure that our siding was big enough and we found we had to adjust the siding uh what we were looking at is once the window was up in there one that needs to fit against the plywood or sheathing that's behind the siding so it's got to fit in the hole but also uh you need to look inside to make sure you've got space all the way around in order to insulate afterwards so we found we had to kind of re cut the siding to that right hand end just to shift the window down to uh in order to make it adequate for insulation so we've we've dry fit a couple times everything looks like it's going to work fine uh I've also gone here along the bottom sill and we've put some uh I use cedar shingles but anything that'll create a space here uh to lift the window up and uh We've also put those in so that it's level across so we should be able just to slide the window in right on top of those uh should be some very minor adjustments to get everything level so so that's kind of prepped up there we've also uh so we've also gone ahead and pre-cut the drip cap uh we don't have an overhang here uh over the window uh close enough to shelter it from weather so uh in our area we're required to put this drip cap over the window to shed the rain um you seen earlier we cut the old one off so now we've cut a new piece uh we should be able to just slip it up in behind the siding for now in theory there might be a nail right there no oh I see so I'm just sliding that up be between the sheeting the wall sheeting and the actual siding just want to get it up in there uh let's causing us a little grief with the paper that's behind there just pry it out a bit see if that'll get us a little bit of room and there we go so we got it up in there uh we'll be able to pull it down if it needs to come down afterwards a little bit to meet the window so we've got that sitting in there um if uh if this was new construction we'd be doing the next step a little bit differently uh if it was new construction we would use a membrane product uh that actually adheres to the sheating and then the window it goes all the way around the perimeter opening and then the window would go to it and be fastened in uh because in a Reno situation we really don't have a lot of edge here in order to adhere that product to what I do is I put a real generous bead of silicone all the way around the perimeter of the window to the sheeting so when we set the window in there uh it it does a couple things it acts as a gasket it actually helps hold the window in there uh and it also forms a seal to prevent any water from getting inside or dust wind any of that kind of thing so uh and also you know if you have any deviant is in the thickness of your plywood or joints or something it'll it'll take up some of that that space where the window might span across um so it looks like pretty much ready I'm going to run my bead of silicone around the perimeter and uh then I'll pull my window over here and and get it ready actually before I do that I'll just show you on on this window we're using a renovator Type window or at least in my area what they call a renovator uh this one's a 2-in renovation brick mold and it comes with this strip that pulls out all the way around and in here is a channel that we can actually put our screws in that hold the window in and then that strip snaps back in covers it all up so it looks nice and neat when it's done uh nobody can even tell that you you know where you've screwed it and these just snap out relatively easy once you get them started so I'm just going to pop those out so they're out and we're also going to have somebody on the inside once we get the window in there just to do any adjustments that we need so okay so I'm going to run the silicone around and this silicone is white there's it really doesn't get seen where we're using it here so it wouldn't matter if it's clear or whatever just use a good quality silicone like I said I'm using a pretty generous bead silicon's relatively cheap and uh in this case this is what's making the Seal of your window to the to the structure so I'm staying pretty close to the edge of the plywood about within a quarter of an inch just so that when we put the window in it silicone hopefully doesn't squirt out to the outside and and actually come out where it's visible so then we just have to clean it up okay so you can see I went yeah I went all the way around I'm going to move the window over into position here and get it up in into the hole and uh fasten it in okay so I've got the window down I'm just running my fingers around the back side here to remove any dust or as much dust as I can so we get a nice Bond into that bead of silicone that I put there I'm going to lift the window in set it down onto the shims that we nailed onto the bottom uh get it you know close and Slide the top into the opening the trick here is not getting the silicone all over yourself and uh with the window being a little heavier it's sometimes more of a trick so I've got it on the bottom sill just working it in a little closer on the bottom the strip cap just needs a little maneuvering to get it up started over the window like so and I push the window in I want to make sure it's making contact with the plywood all the way around my guy inside is just checking if uh we've got space all the way okay he's saying we got to go a little bit that way if we can that's all I've got there we're okay okay so we're good out there or in there I should say I'm just going to put the level on and our shims were good so we're sitting nice and level right there I'm going to put one screw in just to hold it and I'm going to check the window for square corner to corner so I'm using a a truss head screw once I get this one in I'll bring one closer to the camera I'm going right in this track and just snugging that up so this is the screw I'm using you got to make sure you have enough length it's got a nice big flat surface on the back of the head so that will snug up against the vinyl and not pull through the vinyl like a normal deck screw would okay so I've got that just hanging there so that it won't fall out anytime you want to see if something is square if you measure diagonally corner to corner the two measurements should be the same if it's Square this one's r on uh these are good quality windows they're usually usually real good but sometimes you get a lighter cheaper window and you can rack it out of squares so uh this one's good where we are so uh I'm going to space my screws about every 12 to 14 in and don't go super nuts with tightening them just make sure it's snug and that it pulls the window back into the that bead of cocking or that silicone you put in once I get a a in I'm just going to get the guy on the inside to uh open the window and make sure it operates properly and doesn't catch her or you know get snagged up on anything so if he wants to run back in and uh we'll do that in a second oops on this window uh one side's fixed and one side opens so once he's back in there he can open that up and make sure it's good before we get going too far go ahead I could see him through the reflection so we're just looking that uh got a bunch of dust in there uh we're just looking that when it opens and closes It's not catching on a corner or binding in any way so we'll open and close it a couple times looks like it's looks like it's operating really well uh the locks seem to be operating so that should be good so we'll finish screwing it in uh once we have it all screwed in all the way around the perimeter we will then use a good uh in this case we're using a real good uh latex type exterior cocking to the joint between the new window and the cut we made in the siding so we'll go all the way around the perimeter and uh we can snap our trims back in that cover these screws and we're pretty much done then we'll just go inside and uh insulate around the the the window and uh we're good okay so I got those all in um we can now just bring this strip cap down so it sits nice and we'll COA the any space we have above actually maybe I'll snap these trims in first so you can use a rubber mallet or I generally use the handle on my hammer and you just get it roughly close get it started to to in there get your height adjusted and they just snap in really nice and clean and it uh you'll see here in a minute how it totally finishes the window off real nice so I've got that started but I'm not quite right down to where it needs to be and in this case we've got four pieces so you can see already how that does a nice job of making the window look nice and clean and no VIs visible signs of where it's fastened in nothing left to rot or rust strip cap is going to make it a little more difficult to get this top one inops this one's being stubborn there we go we can go around after take off any scuffs or anything left from the handle and the hammer okay so I'm just going to get my cocking ready and then I'll be back to show you how to do that okay so we've got our exterior uh acrylic uh cocking in this case it's it's it's white and it could be painted if they ever painted the house or whatever but uh so we're going to seal up this this joint that we now have around the outside I pulled this strip cap right down so it's sitting down nicely on the window just going to try to put a nice nice clean bead all the way along this Edge unless you've got a large um opening to you don't need to cut a real huge hole in the tube this is just a nice size here so just go all the way along your Edge wet your finger or lick it or whatever and just toule that cocking with your finger just that way it's making sure it's pushing back against both products and actually making a seal and just have a look under the lip of every piece of siding that it closed up there like so and I'm just going to do the same thing all the way around the window we got a little bigger uh gap down here so let's going to take a little more caul but I may have to cut a bigger hole in this uh cocking gun so I can go about that far with this size of hole and the rest of these I'm going to have to just open this hole up a little more so but you get the idea basically go around seal that all up for to keep water and air and everything out and uh then the exterior is finished uh from this point we'll go inside I like to use spray foam to insulate around the windows so we'll go inside spray foam the the interior and uh that'll be it okay so we moved inside now and uh you can see we've got a space on all four edges of the window between the window itself and the framing and drywall uh we're going to use spray foam insulation to insulate that uh if you're going to use spray foam you want to be sure you get the low expanding product that's made for Windows and Doors uh if you use the Gap filler type foam what it'll actually do is put a lot of pressure on the frames and it can actually bulge them so uh just be sure you're getting the low expanding you could use bad insulation as well cut into small strips and and lightly slide it back in there the problem with that is usually people pack it excuse me pack it in there and as soon as you start packing bad insulation it loses its R value so I find the the spray foam is is a nicer product it totally seals up the uh the cavity and the nice thing with uh most of them is that once it skims over it actually creates a vapor barrier as well so you're actually stopping any draft that would come through there because in most cases you've cut off the uh poly if there if there even was any attached to the windows um so shake your can up real good can of FO and uh one thing with this uh just if you've never used it before uh be sure not to uh get it on the walls carpet your hands it doesn't come off so well if you do get it on something don't try to clean it up just let it be once it actually cures and and uh sets up then peel it away and do your clean up from there uh if you clean it up wet you're just going to smear it around and it's it's even more of a mess so what I do is you want to insert the straw as far back in there as you can hopefully get within an inch of the outside surface and uh I go around the window fill it about oh 30% go all the way around and then uh after about 20 minutes I'll go back and I'll fill up about fill it up again to about 75% or you know even a little less and uh what that does is so that that first bead that you put around there does create a vapor barrier uh because when you do your second run some spots are probably going to flow out a little bit further once they expand and you're going to cut that off with an Ola knife before you put your trim on so you've lost as soon as you cut it you've lost your Vapor Barrier effect so the the primary layer that I put in there actually is a vapor barrier the second one is just for r value and to finish filling the Gap so that's why I try to do it in two run two passes so I'm just going to uh insert so I've inserted the tube you want to have the can upside down as much as possible as soon as you run it very long right side up uh you lose your pressure and you're going to waste most of your foam cuz it's it's not going to come out so you want to try to keep it upside down as much as possible so you're looking back in there and it comes out especially when the can's new it comes out pretty liberally so you don't don't have to squeeze it full torque because if you do you're going to be running to try to keep ahead of it so that it's not uh filling up too much I'm going to go across the top we got a little bit more of a space here you can wear rubber gloves if you want just to prevent getting this on your on your fingers and it has a tendency once you've let off that iton wants to because it's expanding even out of the tube it's it's wanting to seep out a little bit so just be aware of that so you don't drip it on the carpet and you're just making sure you're actually filling uh right from The Vinyl of the window to the framing of the wall not leaving any gaps small small little spaces you know 1 E of an inch should should expand and fill in but ideally I try to make sure it's full side to side and let it expand in more than anything and I know that it's it's going to seal up and across the bottom working around our shims that we got there so we've got that um do we have a paper towel or something uh I just want to set this can down then I'm going to have a look around make sure that I got that completely filling up and it looks like I did sometimes when you have the straw in there and shadows and everything you can't really see 100% if you're getting it okay so I just looked looked around the whole perimeter to make sure that it's uh the foam had filled the space well enough and it looks good uh hopefully we can get a closeup on what's actually in there so you can see a little bit of what it looks like inside that crevice there so um I I think that's all I can really show you uh we're not prepared to put the trim on at this time I think that'll be something for another video um so right now as far as uh removing and replacing a window in your house I think we've showed you everything that you need need to know for a DIY um this complements the other videos we have on measuring your windows so that you can order new windows so you can check that out as well on our YouTube channel uh we also have the form up on the website as usual so you can go there if you have any questions about this or any other topic that you you might think of you can put her on there and I'll do my best to try to answer your question so uh again Shannon from uh house improvements and uh this was removing and replacing a windowhi Shannon here from host improvements.com uh today we're going to shoot a video here and we're going to show you how to remove and replace an existing window in your home with a vinyl window um basically to start out we've already got the windows pre-ordered uh so I've measured the exterior size of the brick mold on the new window transferred those marks to the house here you can see we've got a uh basically a pressed wood siding so it's going to be relatively easy to cut with a circular saw so I've transferred the measurements of the window to the outside here marked it on the siding and that is going to form our cut line we'll cut around the whole perimeter and with any luck at all the window will come out without too much hassle what we're going to find underneath this siding is an aluminum uh nailing flange so once we've pulled the siding off when it's cut we'll be able to expose the aluminum uh nailing plange pull the nails remove the window and go from there okay so I've set the depth of my uh circular saw so that we aren't hopefully cutting right through the plywood it's a little difficult because this is a lap siding so we need to have it set a little deeper some areas that it is going to cut the plywood so I've set the depth uh safety glasses and I'm just going to go around the window and cut it just double checking the uh it cut right through just going to go a little deeper just got a bit of a nail that I can see here hoping I can pull it out of there um actually the way this siding works out may be able to remove this strip and then just cut the one that's below it probably a good idea to have ear protection on too I was thinking as I was cutting it's a little loud but you definitely want eye protection because you could definitely be cutting a few nails and possibly even that aluminum nailing flange that's around the window in this case I think we were cutting just outside of it here's that there's that aluminum fin I was talking about so you can see uh this one's nailed in with looks like shingle nails so once we get it all exposed we should be able to pull them out uh so now I'm I'm going to make another cut but I'm going to run it along here I've got to just Mark a line and and cut that you can see see when cutting this siding it it's a lot of fine sawdust comes from it too so we've also in this area covered up an air conditioner that's right below us just to keep some of that dust and dirt out of it so I'm just going to go around now and pry off all these spots where we've cut and get that nailing FL exposed and yet again another real good use for red flat bar I think we've used this in almost every video for some job or another there will be a bead of cocking or there should be uh between whatever your your finished product in this case is siding and the existing window if it ends up in the way just peel it off too it'll likely come with the siding though you could really do this same method if you had stuckle you just need to use the appropriate blade in your saw uh but you could definitely do the same thing with stuckle so you can see in a few spots where the siding is doubled up I didn't quite get cut through everything uh with this type of siding you can pretty much cut that with a knife and those little pieces will come off if you had to you could just make your saw a little deeper again and and make another pass but basically we can get that out of there with the knife in this case so I'll just continue around the window doing the same thing getting it all cleaned up and uh expose these nails so we can pull the nails out okay so I've got all the strip of siding removed around the outside edge I've also pre- removed a bunch of the nails but I will show you across the top getting the nails out uh something I didn't mention at the beginning of the video is the casing or the trim work inside the house is already removed off the window uh make sure you do that so that you can pull it out properly um so basically you may have this drip cap on the top you may not just depending on your case basically uh we're going to be replacing this so I'm just pulling it out of there we pretty much had cut through most of it except this one spot so that that now exposes the top row Nails across there so I will uh go around and pull those out and then the windows ready to come out there's no right or wrong way of doing this it's just a matter of finding the way that works the best in the situation you've got I'm kind of prying this flange out enough to loosen the nails off so that then they're protruded enough that I can get behind them to pull them up so I'm just going to work my way along there and keep doing that till they're all loose at least trying not to damage the siding we're obviously leaving that in place okay so I've got those all loosened off now I can just go back and remove all of them okay so I believe we have all the nails out around the perimeter and the window should be coming free I'm just going to try to coax it out of the hole a little bit to the point where I can get a hold of it depending on the size of the window obviously you may need help to lift it in or out so I'm just kind of going around the uh existing insulation that's in there causes it to bind a little bit so it that's usually mostly what's kind of holding it in at this point it's starting to come now once you kind of wiggle it out I try to leave the bottom sitting on there if I'm working by myself pry the top away get rid of this iny itchy insulation I'm just going to flop it down onto the work surface and that's one window out so uh we'll get this down off the scaffold ah man watch out for acoustical sealant uh we'll get this down off out of our way and uh inspect the opening for any rot or anything and prepare it for the new window all right so uh We've brought the window up up top here it's obviously standing on its end right now but it's just to get it out of the way uh we did a couple dry fits on the opening to be sure that our siding was big enough and we found we had to adjust the siding uh what we were looking at is once the window was up in there one that needs to fit against the plywood or sheathing that's behind the siding so it's got to fit in the hole but also uh you need to look inside to make sure you've got space all the way around in order to insulate afterwards so we found we had to kind of re cut the siding to that right hand end just to shift the window down to uh in order to make it adequate for insulation so we've we've dry fit a couple times everything looks like it's going to work fine uh I've also gone here along the bottom sill and we've put some uh I use cedar shingles but anything that'll create a space here uh to lift the window up and uh We've also put those in so that it's level across so we should be able just to slide the window in right on top of those uh should be some very minor adjustments to get everything level so so that's kind of prepped up there we've also uh so we've also gone ahead and pre-cut the drip cap uh we don't have an overhang here uh over the window uh close enough to shelter it from weather so uh in our area we're required to put this drip cap over the window to shed the rain um you seen earlier we cut the old one off so now we've cut a new piece uh we should be able to just slip it up in behind the siding for now in theory there might be a nail right there no oh I see so I'm just sliding that up be between the sheeting the wall sheeting and the actual siding just want to get it up in there uh let's causing us a little grief with the paper that's behind there just pry it out a bit see if that'll get us a little bit of room and there we go so we got it up in there uh we'll be able to pull it down if it needs to come down afterwards a little bit to meet the window so we've got that sitting in there um if uh if this was new construction we'd be doing the next step a little bit differently uh if it was new construction we would use a membrane product uh that actually adheres to the sheating and then the window it goes all the way around the perimeter opening and then the window would go to it and be fastened in uh because in a Reno situation we really don't have a lot of edge here in order to adhere that product to what I do is I put a real generous bead of silicone all the way around the perimeter of the window to the sheeting so when we set the window in there uh it it does a couple things it acts as a gasket it actually helps hold the window in there uh and it also forms a seal to prevent any water from getting inside or dust wind any of that kind of thing so uh and also you know if you have any deviant is in the thickness of your plywood or joints or something it'll it'll take up some of that that space where the window might span across um so it looks like pretty much ready I'm going to run my bead of silicone around the perimeter and uh then I'll pull my window over here and and get it ready actually before I do that I'll just show you on on this window we're using a renovator Type window or at least in my area what they call a renovator uh this one's a 2-in renovation brick mold and it comes with this strip that pulls out all the way around and in here is a channel that we can actually put our screws in that hold the window in and then that strip snaps back in covers it all up so it looks nice and neat when it's done uh nobody can even tell that you you know where you've screwed it and these just snap out relatively easy once you get them started so I'm just going to pop those out so they're out and we're also going to have somebody on the inside once we get the window in there just to do any adjustments that we need so okay so I'm going to run the silicone around and this silicone is white there's it really doesn't get seen where we're using it here so it wouldn't matter if it's clear or whatever just use a good quality silicone like I said I'm using a pretty generous bead silicon's relatively cheap and uh in this case this is what's making the Seal of your window to the to the structure so I'm staying pretty close to the edge of the plywood about within a quarter of an inch just so that when we put the window in it silicone hopefully doesn't squirt out to the outside and and actually come out where it's visible so then we just have to clean it up okay so you can see I went yeah I went all the way around I'm going to move the window over into position here and get it up in into the hole and uh fasten it in okay so I've got the window down I'm just running my fingers around the back side here to remove any dust or as much dust as I can so we get a nice Bond into that bead of silicone that I put there I'm going to lift the window in set it down onto the shims that we nailed onto the bottom uh get it you know close and Slide the top into the opening the trick here is not getting the silicone all over yourself and uh with the window being a little heavier it's sometimes more of a trick so I've got it on the bottom sill just working it in a little closer on the bottom the strip cap just needs a little maneuvering to get it up started over the window like so and I push the window in I want to make sure it's making contact with the plywood all the way around my guy inside is just checking if uh we've got space all the way okay he's saying we got to go a little bit that way if we can that's all I've got there we're okay okay so we're good out there or in there I should say I'm just going to put the level on and our shims were good so we're sitting nice and level right there I'm going to put one screw in just to hold it and I'm going to check the window for square corner to corner so I'm using a a truss head screw once I get this one in I'll bring one closer to the camera I'm going right in this track and just snugging that up so this is the screw I'm using you got to make sure you have enough length it's got a nice big flat surface on the back of the head so that will snug up against the vinyl and not pull through the vinyl like a normal deck screw would okay so I've got that just hanging there so that it won't fall out anytime you want to see if something is square if you measure diagonally corner to corner the two measurements should be the same if it's Square this one's r on uh these are good quality windows they're usually usually real good but sometimes you get a lighter cheaper window and you can rack it out of squares so uh this one's good where we are so uh I'm going to space my screws about every 12 to 14 in and don't go super nuts with tightening them just make sure it's snug and that it pulls the window back into the that bead of cocking or that silicone you put in once I get a a in I'm just going to get the guy on the inside to uh open the window and make sure it operates properly and doesn't catch her or you know get snagged up on anything so if he wants to run back in and uh we'll do that in a second oops on this window uh one side's fixed and one side opens so once he's back in there he can open that up and make sure it's good before we get going too far go ahead I could see him through the reflection so we're just looking that uh got a bunch of dust in there uh we're just looking that when it opens and closes It's not catching on a corner or binding in any way so we'll open and close it a couple times looks like it's looks like it's operating really well uh the locks seem to be operating so that should be good so we'll finish screwing it in uh once we have it all screwed in all the way around the perimeter we will then use a good uh in this case we're using a real good uh latex type exterior cocking to the joint between the new window and the cut we made in the siding so we'll go all the way around the perimeter and uh we can snap our trims back in that cover these screws and we're pretty much done then we'll just go inside and uh insulate around the the the window and uh we're good okay so I got those all in um we can now just bring this strip cap down so it sits nice and we'll COA the any space we have above actually maybe I'll snap these trims in first so you can use a rubber mallet or I generally use the handle on my hammer and you just get it roughly close get it started to to in there get your height adjusted and they just snap in really nice and clean and it uh you'll see here in a minute how it totally finishes the window off real nice so I've got that started but I'm not quite right down to where it needs to be and in this case we've got four pieces so you can see already how that does a nice job of making the window look nice and clean and no VIs visible signs of where it's fastened in nothing left to rot or rust strip cap is going to make it a little more difficult to get this top one inops this one's being stubborn there we go we can go around after take off any scuffs or anything left from the handle and the hammer okay so I'm just going to get my cocking ready and then I'll be back to show you how to do that okay so we've got our exterior uh acrylic uh cocking in this case it's it's it's white and it could be painted if they ever painted the house or whatever but uh so we're going to seal up this this joint that we now have around the outside I pulled this strip cap right down so it's sitting down nicely on the window just going to try to put a nice nice clean bead all the way along this Edge unless you've got a large um opening to you don't need to cut a real huge hole in the tube this is just a nice size here so just go all the way along your Edge wet your finger or lick it or whatever and just toule that cocking with your finger just that way it's making sure it's pushing back against both products and actually making a seal and just have a look under the lip of every piece of siding that it closed up there like so and I'm just going to do the same thing all the way around the window we got a little bigger uh gap down here so let's going to take a little more caul but I may have to cut a bigger hole in this uh cocking gun so I can go about that far with this size of hole and the rest of these I'm going to have to just open this hole up a little more so but you get the idea basically go around seal that all up for to keep water and air and everything out and uh then the exterior is finished uh from this point we'll go inside I like to use spray foam to insulate around the windows so we'll go inside spray foam the the interior and uh that'll be it okay so we moved inside now and uh you can see we've got a space on all four edges of the window between the window itself and the framing and drywall uh we're going to use spray foam insulation to insulate that uh if you're going to use spray foam you want to be sure you get the low expanding product that's made for Windows and Doors uh if you use the Gap filler type foam what it'll actually do is put a lot of pressure on the frames and it can actually bulge them so uh just be sure you're getting the low expanding you could use bad insulation as well cut into small strips and and lightly slide it back in there the problem with that is usually people pack it excuse me pack it in there and as soon as you start packing bad insulation it loses its R value so I find the the spray foam is is a nicer product it totally seals up the uh the cavity and the nice thing with uh most of them is that once it skims over it actually creates a vapor barrier as well so you're actually stopping any draft that would come through there because in most cases you've cut off the uh poly if there if there even was any attached to the windows um so shake your can up real good can of FO and uh one thing with this uh just if you've never used it before uh be sure not to uh get it on the walls carpet your hands it doesn't come off so well if you do get it on something don't try to clean it up just let it be once it actually cures and and uh sets up then peel it away and do your clean up from there uh if you clean it up wet you're just going to smear it around and it's it's even more of a mess so what I do is you want to insert the straw as far back in there as you can hopefully get within an inch of the outside surface and uh I go around the window fill it about oh 30% go all the way around and then uh after about 20 minutes I'll go back and I'll fill up about fill it up again to about 75% or you know even a little less and uh what that does is so that that first bead that you put around there does create a vapor barrier uh because when you do your second run some spots are probably going to flow out a little bit further once they expand and you're going to cut that off with an Ola knife before you put your trim on so you've lost as soon as you cut it you've lost your Vapor Barrier effect so the the primary layer that I put in there actually is a vapor barrier the second one is just for r value and to finish filling the Gap so that's why I try to do it in two run two passes so I'm just going to uh insert so I've inserted the tube you want to have the can upside down as much as possible as soon as you run it very long right side up uh you lose your pressure and you're going to waste most of your foam cuz it's it's not going to come out so you want to try to keep it upside down as much as possible so you're looking back in there and it comes out especially when the can's new it comes out pretty liberally so you don't don't have to squeeze it full torque because if you do you're going to be running to try to keep ahead of it so that it's not uh filling up too much I'm going to go across the top we got a little bit more of a space here you can wear rubber gloves if you want just to prevent getting this on your on your fingers and it has a tendency once you've let off that iton wants to because it's expanding even out of the tube it's it's wanting to seep out a little bit so just be aware of that so you don't drip it on the carpet and you're just making sure you're actually filling uh right from The Vinyl of the window to the framing of the wall not leaving any gaps small small little spaces you know 1 E of an inch should should expand and fill in but ideally I try to make sure it's full side to side and let it expand in more than anything and I know that it's it's going to seal up and across the bottom working around our shims that we got there so we've got that um do we have a paper towel or something uh I just want to set this can down then I'm going to have a look around make sure that I got that completely filling up and it looks like I did sometimes when you have the straw in there and shadows and everything you can't really see 100% if you're getting it okay so I just looked looked around the whole perimeter to make sure that it's uh the foam had filled the space well enough and it looks good uh hopefully we can get a closeup on what's actually in there so you can see a little bit of what it looks like inside that crevice there so um I I think that's all I can really show you uh we're not prepared to put the trim on at this time I think that'll be something for another video um so right now as far as uh removing and replacing a window in your house I think we've showed you everything that you need need to know for a DIY um this complements the other videos we have on measuring your windows so that you can order new windows so you can check that out as well on our YouTube channel uh we also have the form up on the website as usual so you can go there if you have any questions about this or any other topic that you you might think of you can put her on there and I'll do my best to try to answer your question so uh again Shannon from uh house improvements and uh this was removing and replacing a window\n"